Stupid Prat
by TheRowlingPierceWriter
Summary: The ultimate Hermione and Ron romance. Fluff ahead, but this actually has a plot. Read, please!
1. Beginnings (qoute Tropical Fishy: 'heck,...

Stupid Prat  
  
By: TheRowlingPierceWriter  
  
Disclaimer:  
  
Fluffy like a bunny  
  
Ron and Hermione honey  
  
It all belongs to JK  
  
So don't kick my booty!  
  
"Hermione?" Ron leaned tentatively over his friends' shoulder, anticipating a response. The girl continued to read an aged, tattered volume entitled The Witching Revolution: What We Were Doing While Muggles Built Their Train Tracks. She showed no sign of hearing Ron at all. Ron gave an exasperated sigh. "Hermione," he said again. This time the girl in question reacted. She turned to Harry, who sat innocently on her left, and spoke:  
  
"Harry, did you know that in the nineteenth century, some advanced wizards were already experimenting with undetectable torture spells?" Her tone cut through Ron like a knife, and he presently sat down again, abandoning his mother-like perch above Hermione's shoulder. Harry, who has been apprised of the ill feeling between his two best friends, said nothing. He didn't want to fuel their spat any more than it already was. Hermione understood, and said naught more to her black-haired companion. Instead, she inflexibly read her book while Ron fumed a chair away, breaking up his brussel sprouts into tiny little pieces. Harry ate blandly, too aware of the moot point in their relationship.  
  
Flashback  
  
"I need to talk to you." Ron offered to Hermione. She was scrambling through her bookbag, hunting for her Potions essay. She discerned Ron impatiently, papers in her hands and quills tucked neatly behind both of her ears. Ron hesitated. "The thing is, Hermione…" he began. She nodded, but did not respond, her hands still fumbling with the far corners of her bookbag for her essay. "Wow, I mean, Herm, it's just that…" Ron trailed off again. They were walking down a near-deserted Charms corridor, and Ron cut her short, halting them together. "This is really hard to say." Ron stuttered. Hermione was growing more disquieted by the minute. She dropped a Transfiguration textbook to the floor and shoved a lock of bushy hair out of her eyes. Ron gulped.  
  
In the next moment, several things happened at once. Ron started with, "I want to tell you that-", and was interrupted instantaneously by Hermione's tired, "Get off it, Ron, why are you acting so-", upon which time Ron forged ahead, "that I like you." Hermione froze. Together, everything she held in her arms-a collapsible cauldron, her wand, and two jars of Sneekley's Believe-It-Or-Not Brew Thinner, exploded to the floor. Hermione threw her hands above her head in what Ron hoped would become an embrace. It did not.  
  
"RON! Ron, you stupid prat, how COULD you? You have some nerve, Ronald Weasley!" She screamed, eyes filling up with tears of rage and triste. Ron, poleaxed, stared helplessly on. Hermione continued to rant. "D'you know what you've done-oh! Oh!" She left her school things lying haphazardly across the hall and dashed away from Ron.  
  
End Flashback  
  
Hermione sat blandly on her bed, contemplating the many ways to make herself invisible before having to face Ron again. There was running away…but no; Hermione hadn't taken the final exams yet. That would be a waste of a whole year. She could always give herself magical plastic surgery and pretend to be an exchange student from Haiti, or…  
  
"Hermione, have you got any silver eye shadow?" Lavender's bubbly voice shattered Hermione's complex thoughts. She looked up at Lavender, who stood at the foot of Hermione's bed.  
  
"No." She replied, distracted. Vaguely she wondered why Lavender would ask Hermione for such a frivolous, girly item when she knew full well that Hermione carried nothing of the sort.  
  
"All right, then." Lavender began to turn around, but stopped short of herself and fixed Hermione with a piercing gaze. "What's with you lately?" She bluntly asked.  
  
"Nothing." Hermione said, sullenly and with more force than she had intended. Lavender's mascared eyes widened with surprise.  
  
"Geez." She remarked.  
  
Hermione lay back on her bed moodily and closed her curtains. She didn't really want to think of Ron, and yet there was no way of getting around it. Hermione was mad at him, and he didn't know why, and the fact that he didn't know why ("Prat that he is," Hermione mumbled under her breath) caused Hermione to get even madder. Five years! She thought. Five years, and now, NOW, he gets the idea! Hermione, frazzled, closed her eyes and willed for sleep to come.  
  
Ron approached Harry with caution. Ron did not wish for Harry to become involved in his fray with Hermione, although Ron needed his advice. "Harry?" He called out provisionally. He was rewarded by the sight of a messy, dark-haired head emerging from the abyss of deep armchairs.  
  
"What is it?" Harry said, walking toward Ron with a weary expression.  
  
"I need your help." Ron explained guiltily. He was all too aware of the stony gaze Hermione was pretending not to give him a few couches away.  
  
"All right." Harry agreed, gamely. Ron smiled. In a lower tone, he said to Harry:  
  
"Why is Hermione mad at me?"  
  
Hearing this, Harry threw up his hands in despair. He scrambled for words to describe his anger, and settled on, "You really ARE a stupid prat!"  
  
Ron experienced a very strong feeling of dejä vous. He also experienced a weaker feeling of anger, because he did not believe Harry had reason to be disappointed, or worse, mad at him. He also experienced an even weaker feeling of embarrassment: at the sound of Harry's chastising tone, every head in the Gryffindor Common Room had turned, and was now watching him intently. Stronger than all of these feelings, however, was a sudden and urgent craving for Fruit Loops. Ron pushed aside the Fruit Loop hankering and, though he did not realize it at the time, inadvertently banished his humility as well. He addressed Harry. "What d'you mean?" He demanded.  
  
Harry had gone very red in the face. Ginny was running toward Harry, grabbing him by the arm and trying to drag him away from Ron, albeit to no avail. Harry stared rigidly at Ron. "I mean," he said, voice shaking with animosity, "that you are the most daft, most slow, most inexplicably dumb person I have ever-"  
  
At this point, Neville had grabbed onto Harry as well, and, working as a team, Ginny and Neville managed to pull him backward. Harry relented and Ron seized the moment to make a cowardly escape from the Common Room.  
  
~Ron's POV~  
  
This is my mental list of all the things I wish I had at the current moment-  
  
An understanding of why Hermione and Harry are mad at me  
  
An understanding of why I like Hermione  
  
An understanding of why God would make me like Hermione-I mean, hello God, this is HERMIONE, remember?  
  
Fruit Loops?!?!  
  
Flashback  
  
"Now, Ron, I understand that you have come to me seeking to be relieved from… what is it that you suffer from again?" The psychiatrist asked. Ron shifted uneasily.  
  
"I have trouble with confrontations." He said finally, his ears turning an excellent shade of pink.  
  
"Ah, I understand." The psychiatrist was about fifty years old, balding, and psychiatrist-resplendent in a white lab coat. He spoke quietly, analyzing Ron. Ron, never comfortable under a scrutinizing gaze, kept glancing from side to side. "I believe I can help you." The psychiatrist concluded, smiling a thin-lipped smile. Ron breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"What are you going to do?" Ron inquired.  
  
"I will hypnotize you. I promise that your fear of-how did you put it?-confrontation, will wane when I am through." Ron shivered. He was well accustomed to magic, but hypnotizing? "I see that you are uncomfortable. Do not be." The psychiatrist, named Dr. Carl Coccia, read Ron's mind. Dr. Coccia then leaned over the ultramahogany desk separating Ron and himself and spoke quietly into Ron's ear.  
  
"I am going to put you into hypnotic slumber. When I do so, you will not be able to consciously hear or comprehend what I am saying. When I bring you back from the slumber, you will have the power to forever cure your confrontation problems." Ron nodded dolefully. The doctor sat down in his seat and stared Ron levelly in the eyes. "Relax." He said. "Take deep breaths. Don't think of anything except your breathing. Yes, good." Ron obeyed, his eyelids beginning to droop. "When I count to three, you will fall asleep. Still concentrating on your breathing? All right. One," Ron's ears were roaring. "Two," Ron stooped. "Three." Ron was deeply asleep.  
  
Dr. Coccia sat back and thought for a moment. He found hypnotizing especially effective with young people, because their minds were so impressionable. Coccia liked to give every hypnotizing session a flair, and thus proceeded oddly.  
  
"Every time you feel confronted…" He began. Ron's head nodded in response. "Every time you feel confronted, you will undergo a sudden and urgent need for…" Dr. Coccia looked about the room. All he saw were his thick psyche books, his equally thick leather briefcase, and the Mother's Day Card he was planning to send Mrs. Coccia. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it: A box of Fruit Loops. Sometimes, when the doctor was rushed in the morning and was forced to eat on the job, he brought along his favorite American cereal, Fruit Loops. Dr. Coccia grinned. "A sudden and urgent need for Fruit Loops. This sudden and urgent need will only be suppressed when you…"  
  
End Flashback 


	2. Dreams, Dreams, Dreams

Stupid Prat  
  
Chapter Two: Dreams, Dreams, Dreams  
  
By: TheRowlingPierceWriter  
  
Disclaimer: Everything but Melody belongs to JK (obviously)  
  
~*~The Dreams of Ginny Weasley~*~  
  
Ginny found herself sitting in the middle of a plush meadow. To her east, she could see hills, and up north, a rippling blue-green pond. All in all, it was a pretty peaceful place to be. Ginny lay back, letting the grass crunch beneath her weight and soaking in the sights and smells of nature. A bird called, a cricket chirped in response. Ginny sighed, pacific.  
  
Then she met the girl.  
  
She was an ordinary girl, not especially short or tall. Thick auburn hair fell shoulder-length around the girls, and curious amber eyes studied Ginny.  
  
"Who are you?" Ginny said.  
  
The girl smiled, revealing slightly buckteeth. Ginny guessed her to be about thirteen.  
  
"I will become the epiphany of your brother's life." The girl stated simply. Ginny mentally furrowed her eyebrows.  
  
"You will be what?" Ginny exclaimed incredulously.  
  
"I will become the pinnacle, the prize, the very beacon of your brothers' life." The girl said majestically. Her eyes sparkled. Ginny stared at her, nonplused.  
  
"You're what?" Ginny repeated.  
  
"I am to become the jewel—" Ginny's acquaintance started to say. Ginny waved her hands in a motion to stop.  
  
"What's your name?" Ginny asked, hoping for a straight answer.  
  
The girl would not be deterred. "I am to be known as Melody, the sole daughter of your brother Ronald Arthur Weasley."  
  
Ginny was so baffled that she gaped in her sleep.  
  
"Furthermore, if you do not act within the week of my visiting, the happiness of your brother will be forever lost." To-be-known-as-Melody finished.  
  
Ginny felt that she could not be more confused. "Come again?" She said in an awed whisper. To-be-known-as-Melody's face, formerly serene, twisted with impatience. She cattily replied, "Look, if you don't get your act together now, I won't be born and your brother's life will be ruined." Melody's eyes blazed.  
  
"But who are you?" Ginny asked plaintively.  
  
Melody waved back her sheen of hair and twinkled (A/N: It is possible to twinkle in a dream). "I am a spirit: not yet born and alive only in the farthest reaches of your imagination. I am stuck in the limbo of life and nonexistence. It is up to you to save your brother's sanity for all eternity. See that you ensure my birth. You only have a week to set the record straight. I will visit you again to check your progress." Melody vanished, leaving behind a perplexed (and still slumbering) Ginny.  
  
"But what am I supposed to do?" Ginny called to the heavens in her dream. Faintly, in the back of her mind, Ginny heard a diminishing voice say,  
  
"Set the record straight, Ginny. Bring the love into your brother's life and bring me into your world…Ginny…" Ginny shook her head and fell back to her normal, dreamless siesta.  
  
~*~End of Ginny's Dream~*~  
  
~*~The Dreams of Hermione Lyndsay Granger~*~  
  
The first thought in Hermione's head when she entered her dream was, He smells nice. The second thought was, Kind of like Ivory soap. He's not drenched in cologne or worse, dirty. That's good. Hermione sucked in his fragrance and snuggled closer to the boy's chest. It was smooth, soft without being flabby. He seemed to have reached the median between rock- muscled abs and a beer belly. Hermione giggled into the soft fabric of his shirt. She could feel his arms wrapped around her, and this made it even more exciting.  
  
Hermione thought of the last time she had been held like this. The blank in her mind was a startling reality. Hermione had never been held like this by anyone. Ever. As if to blanket her insecurities, Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. The blue-gray cotton of his shirt disappeared and in its place blinked utter darkness. The boy began to speak to her, in a voice annoyingly familiar and yet unreachable to Hermione.  
  
"You are so beautiful, my Hermione…" He crooned. Hermione melted. "Every time I hear your voice I fall more in love with you." She sighed happily. At least someone found her attractive. Rudely, in the corner of her mind, a textbook interrupted by remarking,  
  
"The ancient bjork of Norway is unique in being the only magical creature to reproduce in both males and females…" Hermione screamed (in her head, of course) for the lecture to Shut The Bloody Heck Up, and, surprisingly, it did so. Hermione happily turned her attention back to the boy. He was speaking again.  
  
"Your eyes are breathtaking," he continued. Hermione gloated, until-  
  
"Why won't you be with me?" His voice sounded hurt. Hermione frowned.  
  
"What do you mean?" She murmured, squeezing him reassuringly.  
  
"Whenever I tell you that I have feelings for you, you run off. I don't mean to scare-" The boy got no farther. With growing horror, Hermione looked into his face. She awoke screaming.  
  
~*~End of Hermione's Dream~*~  
  
Nightmares  
  
~*~The ^ of Ronald Arthur Weasley~*~  
  
Ron's dream began at the bay of a deserted, rocky sea. Glancing about him, Ron noticed funny tufts of grass sprouting slipshod, and he could feel the course sand under his feet. It was oddly tranquil, but somewhat boring. For a few minutes he wondered what could be the purpose of this particular dream, and then he noticed the couple.  
  
They were sitting together on a beach blanket, facing toward the crashing waves, so that Ron was invisible to them. He crouched down low and crept closer until he could make out their conversation but not their faces.  
  
"Did you know that the ancient bjork of Norway is unique in being the only magical creature to reproduce in both males and females?" The girl said. Her lover's arm tightened around her waist as a gust of wind blew sharply overhead. Ron shivered.  
  
"No, I did not." The boy admitted. He laughed. "Where would I be without you to tell me these fascinating things?" The boy kissed the girl's cheek affectionately.  
  
Focusing, Ron realized that the couple could not be very old. They were probably only a bit older than he was, in fact. Ron was not surprised to see the couple begin kissing-on the lips, this time-and turned his head in respect (even though it was a dream). A minute later, when he peeked, the couple were once again talking.  
  
"Remember when we were fourth years, and you went to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum?" The boy was saying. Ron was shocked.  
  
"Yes." She replied. Or rather, Ron thought to himself, Hermione replied.  
  
"And remember how Ron had this awful fuss about you 'fraternizing with the enemy'?" The boy said. Hermione nodded.  
  
"It was intuitively obvious he had a crush on me. Oh, it was so cute." Hermione expressed.  
  
"I know! Good thing you let him down easy, my Hermione." Ron's insides boiled. All of a sudden he felt like tearing apart this intruder, whomever it may be, that was putting his arms around Ron's Hermione. He had half a mind to stalk up to him right then. His ire reached a feverish pitch a second later, when he heard:  
  
"I love you, my Harry." Now Ron did get up. He threw himself toward Harry's back, thinking of nothing but getting him as far away as possible from Hermione.  
  
"Of all the nasty, Benedict Arnold things to do-" Ron bellowed. Harry and Hermione jumped, obviously unaware before then that they were being watched.  
  
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. Her cheeks were rather red. Harry snarled.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He said. Enraged, Ron said,  
  
"I was about to ask you the same question!" Harry abandoned his seat next to Hermione and circled Ron.  
  
"Stop it!" Hermione protested.  
  
As one, the two boys turned to her and said, "Don't worry, my Hermione."  
  
Ron lunged at his friend as the dream faded into darkness.  
  
~*~End of Ron's Dream~*~  
  
~*~The Dreams of Harry James Potter~*~  
  
Harry dreamed of a fish. It wasn't a very large or indeed small fish, about a foot long and yellowish-green in color. In fact this fish was so entirely inconsequential to the story at hand that it becomes obvious to you the reader that Harry was completely oblivious to the convoluted web of lies his friends' lives had become. 


	3. Ginny Talks To Hermione, We Look At Herm...

Ginny awoke the next morning with the memory of her dream still startlingly fresh in her mind. There was an aura of pretense in the air, and Ginny knew that today was her calling. Somewhere in the depths of Ginny's body, a primal instinct called out to her. This is what you have to do, it kept repeating. This is what is expected of you. Despite this, however, Ginny did not know quite how to proceed. How, exactly, do you make your brother give birth? Ginny's giggle at this was squeaky and somehow frantic. She certainly didn't want anyone's life ruined, much less her brother's.  
  
Ginny rose from her bed and yawned. The mysterious aroma of Saturday morning clung to her nostrils, and before she could do anything to stop herself, she rushed to the library in search of an answer to her dream, and to 'Melody'.  
  
When Ginny reached the library, it stood blissfully empty-with the exception of Hermione, obviously. Ginny was about to take a seat by herself when she realized that if anyone could help her with her dream enigma, it was Hermione. Determined and yet confounded, Ginny plopped into a seat next to her older friend.  
  
"Ginny!" Hermione remarked enthusiastically. At least Ginny didn't know about the tiff that Ron and she were currently in.  
  
"Hey, Hermione." Ginny greeted. She nervously pulled a strand of red hair behind her ear. Sharing her dreams was something Ginny always did with difficult, although Ginny herself happened to be a strong believer in dream prediction. After all, were she not, she would not be in the library at seven in the morning, searching to save her brother's life from disaster and her to-be niece from eternal non-living limbo, all because of a dream.  
  
"I had this dream." Ginny said, wetting dry lips. A naturally shy person, Ginny couldn't help but be secretive about the messages of her subconscious.  
  
"OK," Hermione replied. "Tell me." Hermione closed the book she had been perusing, The Witching Revolution: What We Weren't Doing While Muggles Built Their Train Tracks.  
  
"Well, it was more of a vision, really." Ginny said, stalling for time.  
  
"What kind of vision?" Hermione shifted, giving Ginny her complete attention. Even under the harmless stare of her companion, Ginny was shy.  
  
"I met this girl." She began lamely. Hermione nodded understandingly. "She said she was-" Ginny paused. 'She said she was Ron's future daughter and that if I didn't ensure her birth I would rot in hell for ruining my brother's life' sounded a bit crazy. Even a bit schizophrenic. Ginny settled on, "She called herself Melody."  
  
"All right." Hermione agreed, silently pushing Ginny forward.  
  
In a rush, Ginny spilled out: "She said she wasRon'sfuturedaughterandthat if I didn't ensure her birth I would rotinhellforruiningmybrother's life."  
  
Hermione blinked. "Come again?" Hermione said.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Ginny stated (quite calmly, she commended herself), "Melody said that she was Ron's future daughter and that if I didn't ensure her birth I would rot in hell for ruining my brother's life." Hermione had a look of misunderstanding on her face.  
  
"What do you mean, 'future daughter'?" Hermione said.  
  
"Like, she's going to be born, but she's not yet. And she's going to be Ron's daughter when she is born, but she can't be born right now, I don't know why, and for some reason she came to me in my dreams and said that if I didn't ensure her being born within the week Ron's life will be ruined." Ginny took a second to breathe and pummeled on. "Except, you need a lover to have a child, don't you? I mean, he can't very well have a child of his own accord…Hermione?" Ginny watched as Hermione stood up abruptly and, tears streaming down her face, prepared to leave the room.  
  
"I never thought you would do something that cruel, Ginny. I thought you were my friend. I thought you understood!" Ginny, of course, having no idea whatsoever of the previous conversation between her youngest older brother and Hermione, sat in utter bafflement.  
  
"You just want me to forgive Ron after all he's put me through! Well I won't, I won't, I won't!" Hermione, hiccuping with sobs, grabbed her bookbag and fled.  
  
  
  
It occurs to me, the writer, that you may be wondering what Hermione is so upset about. To be quite frank (over an entirely serious issue, I might add) Hermione has been in love with Ron for the past five years. Her knees go weak when she thinks of him, her head swims when he speaks to her, her heart aches each night as she goes to sleep without Ron. Her emotions for Ron bottled up over the years, and by now there are so many of them that they are squeezed together and on the verge of bursting out in one colossal deluge. When Ron confessed to Hermione that he felt affection for her, Hermione snapped. If I may delve into Hermione's personal diary momentarily-  
  
SUNDAY, MAY 3RD, 2002, 2:00 PM  
  
DEAR DIARY,  
  
I HAD THE CHANCE YESTERDAY TO CONTEMPLATE MY RELATIONSHIP WITH RON. AS FAR AS LOVE GOES, IT IS NONEXISTANT. HOWEVER, I AM FORCED TO ACT LIKE A SCHOOLGIRL IN THE THROES OF PUPPY LOVE WHENEVER HE IS NEAR (AND SCARILY ENOUGH, DIARY, EVEN WHEN HE IS NOT). I HAVE ALL THE SYMPTONS: WEAK KNEES, SWEATY PALMS, AND LIGHT-HEADEDNESS. IT REALLY IS A DRAG, AND AS YOU CAN SEE, I AM NOT VERY APPRECIATIVE OF THESE LOVESTRUCK EMOTIONS. IN FACT, IT ALMOST MAKES ME INFRURIATED. WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS, PUTTING ME THROUGH SUCH HELL? HOW I WOULD LIKE TO PUNISH RON WEASLEY FOR THIS!  
  
SUNDAY, MAY 3RD, 2002, 2:15 PM  
  
I CANNOT STAY MAD AT RON FOR VERY LONG. HE JUST CHECKED IN ON ME. ALL I HAD TO DO WAS SEE HIS LONG, DARK EYELASHES AND LOOK INTO HIS SEXY, SMOKY EYES AND poof MY RAGE WAS OUT THE WINDOW. I AM UNBEARABLY FICKLE!  
  
Now the spleen on Hermione's part should be lucid. After five years of 'torture' Ron "gets the idea". I bequeath the story line back over to you.  
  
  
  
~*~Harry's POV~*~  
  
I haven't seen Ron around all morning. I wonder where he is. Oh, look, a fish!  
  
~*~End of Harry's POV~*~  
  
Where Ron had actually gone was a deserted dungeon, in search of somewhere to think. Dusting off a chair, Ron sat. He liked Hermione very much, and he did not have the world's greatest amount of experience in the romancing department. However, telling a girl that you like her seemed to Ron to be an elementary step. Apparently, Ron thought, it was not.  
  
Sitting alone in that dank dungeon, Ron's mind set out to formulate a plan with which to calm Hermione. Ron felt this a fairly simple task until he actually commenced. Remembering vaguely that woman appreciate sensitivity and fluff ("and junk like that," he muttered bitterly), he decided to write Hermione a poem. Ron's apology poem to Hermione, written in somewhat unhealthy conditions in a corner of the castle, flowed like this:  
  
Hermione:  
  
I am no good at writing poems  
  
The words become all tangled in my mind  
  
As do my fingers around my quill  
  
Come to think of it  
  
Hermione, you have this effect on me, too  
  
I didn't mean to make you cry  
  
Or feel hurt, or pain, or grief  
  
Just because I like you, my friend  
  
Does not mean that you have to like me back  
  
Or even stay my companion  
  
But promise you will not cry over me again-  
  
Because the last thing in the world I want to do is make you cry.  
  
Not too shabby, Ron decided, looking over his final copy. It made perfect sense to Ron that Hermione would throw her arms about him in total ardor when she read it. For his lack of love savvy, Ron knew a sizeable amount about girls throwing their arms around the young man they adored. Why wouldn't he? Ron was plagued by dreams of Hermione doing exactly this to him more often than not. 


	4. Love Is All There Is

Ginny's revelation of what she had to do came to her in the blink of an eye. Summarized, it went like this: Ron needs a child. Ron can't have a child. He's a guy. Ron needs a girl to give him a child. RON NEEDS HERMIONE! A/N-I _said_ it was summarized! The pieces began to fall into place: Hermione becoming upset with Ginny (obviously, Ginny's dimwitted brother had said something less than finessed to Hermione about their relationship and she was distraught), the dream (Ha! Ginny thought to Melody, wherever she was), and finally, Ron's bad mood recently. Enlightened, Ginny decided that she would have to get Ron and Hermione together-within the week. But how?

"I need help with my Potions assignment." 

Ginny told Hermione, by way of an excuse to get Hermione alone in the Gryffindor Common Room. Then, to retrieve Ron: "I'll go and get my book—just wait right here, Hermione." Hermione obeyed, if skeptically. Ginny raced to the Quidditch Pitch, where Ron was throwing a few underhand tennis balls to Harry for Snitch catching practice, and yelled unceremoniously up to her brother:

"RON! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU! COME INSIDE!" The redhead frowned at her and lobbed another ball to Harry. "RON!" Ginny tried again. This time Ron didn't even look back. "RONALD ARTHUR WEASLEY, IF YOU DON'T COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW AND TALK TO ME I'LL TELL MUM ABOUT THAT TIME OVER THE SUMMER WHEN I FOUND THAT---" But she needn't have worried. Ron came swooping down on his rickety broom the second Ginny had said 'I'll tell mum about that time over the summer'. Although Ron's delinquent acts had been too numerous over the summer to guess which one Ginny would tell about, he was sure that she would choose the worst in her memory. 

"What is it, Gin?" Ron asked, alighting. 

"Please come to the Gryffindor Common Room with me." Ginny pleaded, widening her eyes and pouting. Ron sighed and ran his fingers through his too-red hair.

"Fine. But just ten minutes, OK? Harry and I are losing light out here." Harry nodded fervently, and Ginny accepted Ron's offer. They set off inside, Harry remaining behind as though he knew the importance of privacy to the situation. 

Ron walked into the Gryffindor Common Room and hadn't reached the furthest armchair when he saw Hermione. For the first second, he grew dizzy just looking at her-her mahogany waves of hair, her chestnut eyes. And then he became angry-why did Hermione have to be here? She had run off crying when he had confessed his love to her!

Ginny placed a quieting arm on Ron's shoulder. "There is a conversation awaiting you that has been long in the making." She said softly, so much like Dumbledore. 

"All right." He said hoarsely. Hermione still hadn't noticed him; she sat poring over a Potions book with intensity. Ginny led Ron to a seat beside his friend, and tapped Hermione on the shoulder. 

"Aiii!" She cried. Words spewed from her mouth. "What is HE doing here? You said you needed help with Potions! You lied! What've you got in for me, anyway, bringing Ron? He's awful! Awful! Awful!" Hermione shrieked. Ginny hugged her friend around the shoulders.

Sitting down again, Ginny explained. "I had this dream-I told you about it already, Hermione-where I met-this is crazy-your future daughter."

"Whose future daughter?" Hermione inquired. Ginny swallowed.

"Yours. Both of yours." Ginny hurried along. "She said that she won't be born if I don't do something within the next week. Just a few minutes ago I realized that Ron can only have a child with you if he is in love with you." Ginny's mouth went dry. "And he is. And Hermione, you're in love with him, too. You try to hide it by picking silly fights with him, chastising him. Stop snickering, Ron, you do the same to Hermione." Ron looked offended. Hermione blushed. "The point is, your daughter has to be born, and I know she would bring ultimate joy to your lives…and I know that you two wouldn't be truly happy without each other." Ginny looked around. Hermione was cradling her head in her hands, a few feet away, Ron was unconsciously nodding. 

"No!" Hermione negated suddenly. Her face was livid. "I don't love Ron! I don't!" Ginny clucked impatiently. 

"Ron, do me a favor." Ron raised an eyebrow at Ginny. "Kiss Hermione, Ron." Hermione choked. Ron caught his sister's eye, and before Hermione could say anything more, he had walked over to where she sat and kissed her firmly on the lips. 

Ginny watched Hermione's reaction with pleasure. First her eyes widened with shock, then closed in utter bliss. And she didn't break away. 

Ginny averted her eyes until the two had parted. "See?" She asked hoarsely. 

"Yes." Ron said immediately. Ginny scowled.

"Not you. Hermione-she's the one who hasn't come to terms with her feelings for you." 

"What feelings?" Hermione demanded. Ginny and Ron sent her identical looks.

"You kissed him back, didn't you?" Ginny implied.

"Yes." Hermione replied, uneasy.

"And you liked it, right?"

Even more embarrassed, Hermione said, "Yes."

"And you love Ron, don't you?" Ginny pushed.

Hermione answered automatically. "Yes." Ron flashed her a triumphant smile. "I mean no! No!"

"Hermione." Ginny said slowly. "I know that you are afraid of love. But you don't have to be! That's the great part; you love Ron and Ron loves you and you can live happily ever after. What is there to be afraid of?" Ginny said, addressing both Hermione and Ron.

"Losing my best friend. Going farther than I'd like. Forgetting about my studies." Hermione's voice speeded up. "Getting made fun of, the awkwardness, the strangeness, everything!" Hermione's chin trembled.

"Hermione." Ginny said. "Love conquers that. _Love conquers all_. If you love Ron, and Ron loves you, that is all that matters."

Hermione finally smiled. "I guess you're right." Ron scooted over a few more feet and put his arm around the brunette. "Wait." Hermione halted. "We fight all the time…over little things…how far can a relationship go like that?" Ron answered this time.

"Hermione, we fight because we love each other. Everyone fights with those they love. Look at me and Percy." Hermione smiled wider.

"So what you guys are trying to get through my big, fat, head is that I Love Ron, Ron Loves Me, and Love Is All There Is?"

Ginny opened her mouth to reply, "Exactly," but they wouldn't have heard, because Hermione and Ron were kissing again. And Melody would be born, and Hermione and Ron's happiness was saved, and-Ginny added-Love Really Is All There Is. 


End file.
